Click below to listen to the conversation between 97.9 The Hill’s Aaron Keck and Brian Peterson, urban designer for the town of Chapel Hill!
Welcome to “Embrace The Space!” A monthly segment presented by Trinsic Residential Group, “Embrace The Space” features conversations with experts and professionals in town planning, discussing how differing concepts — from land use and housing to transportation and beyond – all come together to create a community that works, and works for people. This month, 97.9 The Hill’s Aaron Keck was joined by Brian Peterson, urban designer for the town of Chapel Hill!
“You could describe urban design as kind of like the Venn diagram where you have the overlapping circles of planning, landscape architecture and architecture,” said Peterson. “It’s really looking at all these fields, and how you can look at places in terms of being real places that people want to go to.”
Peterson’s role as urban designer sees overlap with many department, from parks to public works all the way to transportation, as projects are considered as the whole rather than measured by individual components. As approval processes come across the respective desks of committees, boards and stakeholders it’s the role of an urban designer to determine where exactly each effort fits within the larger picture of a community.
“I am involved with meeting with developers throughout the process, but it’s especially valuable early on when hopefully I can point them away from a direction that nobody wants — themselves, or the community,” said Peterson. “… It isn’t just reviewing development projects, but it’s looking at what we have for our public facilities and making the best of them, making them public places that people want to go to and that there’s a sense of connection integration between our spaces. Lastly, I would say there’s an aspect of public education and just bringing to fore best practices and good ideas about urban design.”
“Embrace The Space” is a monthly segment presented by Trinsic Residential Group on 97.9 The Hill and Chapelboro.com featuring conversations with experts and professionals exploring town planning, from land use to housing to transportation, and examine how so much works together to form a place where people can not only live — but thrive.
You can find more conversations like this in the “Embrace The Space” archive on Chapelboro, and each month in a special segment airing on 97.9 The Hill!
Comments on Chapelboro are moderated according to our Community Guidelines